Anonymous

What a ride

Reviewed: 05-27-24

Okay, so you know books that give trigger warnings and you kind of roll your eyes? Pay attention to this one - the triggers a real and made me put a hold on continuing for a little bit before coming back to it.

That said the story isn’t as naughty as it may sound - the “step brother” element is maybe a little taboo but they don’t meet until they are both seniors in high school so not gross. I’m a little surprised at how the gay thing was handled since a lot of it was glossed over. Maybe the conversion therapy, suicidal thinking, drug/alcohol and mental health topics were heavy enough to not need homophobia play in. If so, thank you author since if either leads got gay bashed i don’t think I could have made it through to the gooey HEA.

Overall, lots of ups and downs to get to the happily ever after with no loose ends.

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Do not buy outside of the trilogy.

Reviewed: 11-08-23

Books 1 &2 will have you genuinely definitely disliking the MC Tyler - (he’s too much of a waste of energy to hate). If I’d bought book 1 alone, I’d never bothered wasting money or time on book 2. Book 3, you still dislike the MC - mainly for still being a twit but stuff happens and it kind of makes the hours and money you spent hit break even.

Narrator - kudos for powering through.

Author - I won’t be reading anything else. I’m all for angst immature protagonists, but only if they grow up with some level of realism. This guy takes 2 full books to grow a spine and to my mind - that’s beyond fantasy to think he’d live long enough. Scene 1 in book 1 should have seen him get a clue or die bc either his savior would have gutted him after the way he acted or left him to get himself killed. Literally 3 novels about a guy too stupid or immature or emotional to live in new situations bc “nobody cares about what I want!!!!” Seriously, if clay or teiragon had been the MC I’d have enjoyed their mental dialogue more. Bc being in Tyler’s head is like being 12 again and incapable of learning or adapting to … well anything … and about half the self control. Real people learn quickly in stressful situations, which is why we as a species survived. It isn’t plausible to keep Tyler so stupid and immature for as long as he is. He just doesn’t grow up, and for an 18yo? Dude, that’s an adult, not a tween… he didn’t need to get physically beat up by a girl to grow a spine. Also? That scene was garbage and a flashback to the 80’s parenting (by his future boyfriend?).

Anyway, 4 stars to get LGBT stories in this genre and as the trilogy, it wasn’t bad, but just be prepared to cringe….

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Puerile sex scenes / romance plot

Reviewed: 09-07-23

What was a pretty decent book got painfully derailed by sex scenes that sounded like they were written by a 14 year old boy. Aside from the ridiculousness of the *how* he got the millennia old “girl” there’s the scenes themselves which had to have been squeezed in with a crowbar. Awkward and I feel sorry for the narrator … also, if this is the final draft, it’s a little scary to think about what got edited out.

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What is even happening?

Reviewed: 06-16-23

I’d like to leave more commentary but, at risk of spoilers, there’s so much that doesn’t track. “Ooohh, look at me I’m OP AI.” Followed by a “Oh, water’s wet? Huh?” Like moments. I get why that had to be but it’s just a bit much this time around. Also, the game mechanics are really fishy from an element association standpoint and several little inconsistencies. You can even hear the mild incredulity in the narrators voice at times. Also, when did the AI become low-key evil?

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1 person found this helpful

Can’t wait for the next!

Reviewed: 06-06-23

Great series and great narrator. I’d been putting off starting this series but now I’m hooked.

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Awesome sequel!

Reviewed: 01-14-23

Fabulous story with awesome world building without being stat heavy. Definitely builds on the first book nicely. Where’s book three?!

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1 person found this helpful

I really wanted to like this…

Reviewed: 11-26-22

I’ve had many times where it takes a a few dozen chapters of build to get to the good stuff. I gave this one after six hours of a listen. It only got worse - meaning gratuitous violence with little or no character development and a plot stuck in a quagmire of cliche mocking it’s cliche-ness.

I will tell you this - risk a credit and listen to the first 45 minutes and if you think it’s worthwhile - well, go for it. If you’re paying money then do not waste your money now there are no takebacks for bad garbage.

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31 people found this helpful

Great series and worth a credit

Reviewed: 11-11-22 Listener received this title free

Three books for one credit is a crazy good deal considering how short newer books are getting.

I really like this author and I’ll admit this series left a lot on the table, There were sections, particularly the last book that were rushed and character building ended up abandoned for the “big picture”. And it’s a crusher finale, don’t misunderstand me. I love that the “stat” sections are cleanly delineated so you can jump the chapter if you’re not interested (selected relevant stat updates are built in to the main story so there no snickering nerd in the background chastising you for not already knowing something… freaking Chuck… ifykyk).

The narrator is awesome and a familiar voice for his books.

I am biased bc I like the author’s work enough to support him on Patreon and that goes for 5 other authors in the great big sci-fi, fantasy and litrpg space.

This series wouldn’t have made me race to find his next books. That said, solid dungeon core goodness without drama - escapism 2.0

I will say the “bonus story” was a bit Schrödinger’s dungeon … I wasn’t a fan of that at all but didn’t affect the star rating since it was an aside.

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1 person found this helpful

Slow start but turns out pretty epic

Reviewed: 04-23-22

Really glad I took a chance on this one. The genre has a lot of really great stuff but this stands out as particularly fun. Beware though, the author has adopted this irritating literary device where the story starts midway into a situation that later gets explained. If you like that then you’ll appreciate this even more… just not my favorite way of telling a story.

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4 people found this helpful

Awful

Reviewed: 03-27-22

The book is pretty bad. The plot doesn’t move and the MC is flat. There is a lot of unnecessary medical exposition and the narrator isn’t great with pronunciation. By unnecessary medical exposition - inordinate amount of time spent slow walking through different patients with every single IV placement, medication, dosing etc. Character development is skipped around but if it can be cut and pasted from a text book no detail is missed.

Save a credit buy an ACLS class.

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